Why I Can't Wait For the Flyers Season to Start

On Friday, the Philadelphia Flyers will begin a brand new season. We've waited anxiously since the end of last season. If you recall, the Flyers almost made the playoffs and showed signs of vast improvement in year two under head coach John Tortorella. Under his tutelage, the team has been greatly upgraded in effort and talent when under the previous regime. Where do we go from here?

Every season starts with optimism. Just about every fan believes that, under the right set of circumstances, this could be their year. While we don't have a crystal ball and can't see what the future holds, there are several things that we can be optimistic about.

1. Help Us Forget

The Phillies came crashing down in a horrendous collapse....again. The Eagles are sputtering out of control and do not show a whole lot of signs of improvement. The Sixers are, well, the Sixers. We know that they will do well enough through the year before falling to someone they shouldn't fall to in the postseason.

The Flyers are kind of a blank slate right now. We don't know what they will be. However, they will be exciting to watch and will, hopefully, take the edge off of the Phillies losing and the Eagles' subpar season.

2. New Faces

For the most part, the Flyers are running it back with the same squad it had last year. They didn't make a whole lot of noise in free agency, although they did extend a lot of their players (Travis Konecny, Ryan Poehling, etc.). However, we have some new additions in terms of rookies.

Our two latest first-round picks, Matvei Michkov and Jett Luchanko. will make their debut against Vancouver. During preseason, the kids looked quite sharp. They played well with each other and matched up well with Olle Lycksell, Morgan Frost, and others. This could make the Flyers one of the more fun, young teams to watch.

Sure, they are untested and unproven. They will make mistakes. Luchanko is probably only here for a nine-day audition before being sent back to the Guelph Storm of the OHL. Still, it's exciting to see these young guns get their chance to play. This is the future of the organization and it is coming soon.

3. There's Goalies in Them Thar Nets!

For the first time since probably John Vanbiesbrouck and Brian Boucher, we have goalies! Lots of em! Like 20 (ok, maybe not 20). Sam Ersson has proved he can hold down the fort as long as we don't run him into the ground. Ivan Fedotov looks promising. If both of them falter, Eetu Mäkiniemi and Alexei Kolosov are down with the Phantoms after a training camp in which both youngsters looked sharp.

At this point, we are four goalies away from having to see Cal Peterson, the Tajuan Walker of the Flyers netminders, ever again. And worse comes to worst and they ALL get hurt, we have some young guys way down below who also look to contribute.

Final Thoughts

First of all, there is a lot of stuff going on that makes us all really tense, nervous, and uncertain. One thing that WE can be assured of is that no matter our backgrounds, affiliations, or whatever, we all still hate the Penguins, Devils, Rangers, and Bruins with a passion. If that can't unite us, I don't know what will.

Secondly, it goes back to my opening remarks about the Phillies and Eagles. Those teams are disappointing us and have irreparably damaged our mental health because we have held high expectations about those teams. Every week, my 7th-grade students either mock me for the Eagles losing or are stunned I am angry we won. "Aren't you happy Mr. Cole?" <me trying not to curse and lose my job> "Not when they played like that!!!"

With the Flyers, we have no expectations. If they win, Whoo hoo! If they lose, well, they're too young and not ready yet. It's a win-win for us. Of course, we don't want to see them lose. We always want to see them win. They can't go 82-0-0. If they make the playoffs, that is icing on the cake. If they miss it, it's ok.

Kevin Legowski summed it up best in his recent article (happy birthday buddy!) Having turned 45 a month ago, I get it. We're still waiting for our Broad Street Parade. We're still waiting for someone to deliver our Chase Utley/Jason Kelce epic speech while standing by the Stanley Cup. We're closer than we've been in years. But how close remains yet to be seen.

This new season brings us something. We're excited again. Let's hope these happy, tingly feelings continue. More importantly, let's go Flyers!